Last year, 1.3 per cent of property owners appealed their assessment – 25, 760 appeals in total. That’s consistent with a ten-year average of 1.3 per cent, said Tina Ireland, a Vancouver Island assessor with BC Assessment.

Ireland encourages property owners to call in before starting the appeal process.

“We have teams of professional appraisers that can answer calls and hopefully will answer most of the questions that property owners have,” she said. “If the property owner is not satisfied there is, of course, the option to appeal.”

But before appealing, Ireland said homeowners should remember that their assessment is based on 2018 market values.

“The assessment reflects market value of their property at a specific point in time,” she said. “The 2019 assessment reflects market conditions as of July 1, 2018…Property owners should ponder whether they feel that’s a fair representation of their market value.”

B.C. residents have until Jan. 31 to appeal their 2019 property assessments – after which appeals are accepted but may be deemed invalid by PARP.